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When Empathy Turns to Bloodlust

I suppose that most readers are well aware of the events that have been (and are at the time of this writing) going on in Ferguson, Missouri, USA. If not, a quick primer follows. Essentially, an unarmed black man was shot and killed by a white police officer after an altercation which a grand jury decided justified a lack of criminal charges against the police officer. I am not so concerned about the vandalism and looting that some of unknown origin are committing in the wake of that shooting and the subsequent grand jury decision. What I am concerned about is the manner in which others are seeking blood for events that will never affect them. The only conclusion I can come to is that their empathy has caused their vampirism.

Humans want answers for the dilemmas we face in life. Some causal relationships are clear – such as the gore pile of a dog in the middle of a busy highway. Some are less clear and some relationships do not exist at all. I’ve noticed that as the dilemma, so to speak, becomes closer to an individual, that the stretches one is willing to take with information at hand increases. As one becomes more vested, they wear themselves to exhaustion seeking to place order in chaos. They become frenzied looking for truth that they cannot observe. What is especially curious to me is that this relationship can, for the neurotypical, be extended to those they empathize with. The intensity that they search for meaning for plights regarding others in their “in group” can reach the same level as the intensity in which they search for answers for their own issues.

People wanted order from chaos regarding the death of the young man referenced earlier. They projected their in-group onto him and began to look for any explanation, ranging from plausible to fantastic. With little information to go on, people stretched their limits looking for anything to explain the nonsensical. Unable to observe “truth”, they turned to frenzied bloodlust. All for someone they never knew and obviously never will.

We see this time and time with tragedy regardless of any observable fault. Even though the law requires certain hurdles to be cleared in order for those accused to be indicted and/or convicted of crime, the public convicts on their own. NTs empathize with those who have suffered from rape, assault, theft, or many other grievances. They become bloodthirsty looking for anyone who is even remotely associated with such trespasses. Even if they are far removed in reality, they treat their search as one that afflicted them personally. And, since it is personal, they become irrational in their search for retribution and explanation. It is disgusting.

To come full circle, social media – in particular – is exploding at the time of this writing with those calling for retribution for one they have never met and never will. Clouded by what was once irrational empathy, they have turned toward frenzied hatred. As an antisocial, specifically a psychopath, I cannot understand this train of “logic”. I reserve my retribution for those that have affected those in my in-group. Of course, this in-group includes only me. I do not look for order in the chaos of others. And, I feel no need to jump in with bloodlust knowing that those that have been offended are those that I do not care about to begin with.

I don’t fear the antisocial as much as I fear the neurotypical. The antisocial is collected and focused solely on themselves. The neurotypical? Anyone and anything could trigger their hate.